CITY SAYS `NO' TO DOWNTOWN GAMBLING PLAN

There's little doubt some downtown merchants will gaze longingly at the riverfront north of Broadway during this weekend's Riverfest activities.

That was the proposed site for a $37.5 million development that included a riverboat casino.

But Cape Girardeau voters Tuesday rejected riverboat gambling by a margin of 53-47 percent. The ballot measure, which passed in only four of the city's 16 voting precincts, was defeated 5,506 votes to 4,940.

The Cape Girardeau vote was the culmination of a high-profile campaign by proponents of the issue, lauding the economic benefits of a Las Vegas-based gaming company's proposal for a floating casino on Cape Girardeau's riverfront.

The Boyd Group promised a riverboat employing 800 workers, and estimated the local share of revenue from the floating casino would be $2 million annually, in addition to tens of millions in tourism dollars.

On the other side, opponents decried the immorality of gambling and warned that a riverboat would be an economic siphon in Southeast Missouri.

The 10,446 ballots cast, including 510 absentee ballots, represents about 54 percent of the city's registered voters. Election officials called Tuesday's turnout relatively high, particularly for a single-issue election.